Systematic Investigation on the Synergistic Impact of Gallium (Ga)-Boron (B) Co-Doping on the Features of ZnO Films

Abstract

Herein, gallium-boron co-doped ZnO (GBZO) thin films (TFs) of varying percentages of Ga and B doping content were coated on glass slides via spin-coating technique. The impact of doping content on the features of GBZO TFs was comprehensively probed in this work. The characterization results demonstrate that the doping content has a profound impact on the features of GBZO TFs. The X-ray diffraction results verify the polycrystalline nature of GBZO TFs with varying diffraction peak intensities. AFM images disclose the smooth coating of GBZO TFs with low surface roughness. UV–Vis-NIR transmittance spectra reveal that the deposited TFs exhibit high transparency over 86 % in range of 400-800 nm wavelength with excellent optical properties. The electrical resistance measurements indicate that GBZO TFs having doping concentrations of 2.5 at. % of Ga and 0.5 at. % of B has the lower resistivity, and the resistivity of the samples are strongly affected by the doping content. The obtained knowledge from this study could be useful for the fabrication of TF based optoelectronic devices.